Something Old Something New

1. Something Old Something New Revision session Year 11

2. Something Old Something New • An odd story about a Scottish failed medical student (now lab worker) converting to Islam and going to Sudan to marry his girlfriend. • The story is very long! • The reader is unsure about how genuine their love is as there are hints that their relationship is not based on love but on the girl’s need for money. However, there are also hints that they genuinely love one another too.

3. Something Old Something New • It’s told through his eyes but in the 3rd person. • This narrative view point is interesting as we gain an insight into his opinions and feelings but we are also subconsciously influenced by the writer’s opinions. (Aboulela) • There are some interesting ideas presented about Eastern culture. Some of these are stereotypical. • The structure is not chronological. It starts with his arrival to Sudan and then goes back in time to when and how they met in Edinburgh. We also discover the reasons for his conversion to Islam and the reaction from his family before Abouela continues with the story.

4. Top ten devices • 1. “The car seats were shabby, a thin film of dust covered everything.” Adjectives used to describe his perspective on life in Sudan. “shabby” implies the idea that he sees the car he is picked up in as substandard. In addition the idea that “a thin film of dust covered everything” suggests that these low standards are not limited to the car; they cover “everything”. These unflattering descriptions therefore suggest that the narrative voice views his future wife’s country as stereotypically dirty. Furthermore the dust that covers “everything” might be a metaphor for the cultural barriers that affect their relationship. He is trying to understand her and her culture and perhaps the “film of dust” represents the difficulties he has in getting to know and understand her culture.

5. Number two • “It was like a ride in a fun fair....voices, noises, car horns. Anyone of these passers-by could easily punch him..yank off his watch..snatch his wallet...” • What does the above description early on in the story suggest about the narrative voice’s state of mind when he arrives? • Comment on – the use of simile, the use of lists and the use of verbs. How do these each specifically communicate his anxieties?

6. Number three • “She was proud of her Nile...... But as he spoke he noticed that the river’s flow was forceful, not innocent, not playful. Crocodiles no doubt lurked beneath the surface. He could picture an accident; blood, death,bones.”” • Comment on the preposition –”her Nile” • Words such as “forceful, not innocent, not playful.” • Imagery of crocodiles under the surface. • The power of three. • The effect of this sense of foreboding.

7. Number Four • “She had wanted to talk about the divorce; she had not wanted to hear compliments.” • What does this line reveal? • What is the effect of the repetition of “She had..” • What does it suggest about the beginning of their relationship?

8. Device five • “fretted that he would sucked up into unemployment, drugs, depression; the underworld that throbbed and dragged itself parallel to their active middleclass life.”

9. The problem • What problems do they face? • How are they resolved? • How is their relationship presented at the end?